The present invention relates to sheets of calling or business cards, photograph cards, post cards and the like, methods of making them and methods of using them.
The design of calling or business cards by simply printing them with commercially available laser or inkjet printers is of interest. Small size printable media, such as calling or business cards, cannot be individually printed with conventional laser or inkjet printers due to their small format. For this reason, for printing calling cards by means of a laser printer or an inkjet printer, card sheets are usually initially used, from which the calling cards are separated after having been printed, leaving a residual “matrix” of the card sheet. In these card sheets a supporting structure is provided for the cards and a wide variety of embodiments are known for such card sheets and carriers.
In a first class of card sheets, the matrix of the card sheet, or a portion of that matrix itself acts as the carrier for the cards. Thus, there are calling card sheets in which the material is microperforated and the card is broken out along the microperforations to separate the cards from the matrix. The cards to be separated are connected to the card sheet by material bridges comprising the microperforations. In another variation, only a few bridges connect the cards to one another and the matrix, generally at intersection of die cut lines, but also occasionally spaced along a die cut line. When the cards are separated from the card sheet, these bridges partially remain at the edges of the cards. These separation residues are unsightly and not desired especially for high-quality products, such as calling cards.
In one variation of this first class of card sheet product, instead of microperforations, the card sheet includes die cut lines penetrating much but not all of the card sheets (“substantially cut” lines), and cards are separated from the surrounding matrix by severing the uncut portions of the substantially cut lines. Another variation uses a multi-layer structure for the card sheet, wherein one of the layers acts as the carrier material. The cards are separated by “snap breaking” through the carrier material. Patent publications illustrating this first class of card products include: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,853,837, 5,993,928 and 5,997,680 (Popat, commonly assigned herewith; substantially cut lines); see also United States Patent Applications 2001/0036525 A1 (Yokokawa; multilayer card structure) and 2003/0148056 (Utz, et al).
In a second class of card product designs, the cards are completely cut from the surrounding matrix by cut punching, and one or more additional structures are used as a carrier for the cut cards. The structure of such cut-punched calling card sheets results from a printable top material and a carrier material applied to one side of the top material, the carrier material being bonded to the cards and to the matrix to support the cards within the matrix. One example of this second class of card products uses relatively narrow carrier strips or tapes from which the printed card may be drawn off. The tapes may be applied to the punched lines along the short side of the (A4) sheet or formed by removing alternating ones of strips cut into the carrier before or after application to the sheet. The adhesive remains on the tapes when the card is drawn off. A disadvantage of this construction is that the top material/carrier connection is relatively unstable, which impairs the feeding and transportation behavior in the printer. In addition, there is the danger that tape fibers are torn-off by the action of removing the cards from the adhesive tape. This embodiment is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,789 (Fernandez-Kirchberger et al.).
Other versions of this second class of card sheet products use a “liner” sheet as the carrier, wherein the liner may be a full sheet corresponding to the top sheet, or may have sections removed from a full sheet. In so-called “dry-peel” constructions, the bond between the liner and the top sheet is created using an extruded polymer with a debondable interface to the liner sheet. When the cards are drawn off, the film remains on the back of the card, which impacts negatively the ability to accept handwriting or ink indicia. In removable or ultra-removable adhesive constructions, the bond is created using a removable or ultra-removable adhesive between the top sheet and the liner sheet. When the cards are drawn off from the carrier, the adhesive remains on the carrier and the backs of the cards remain free of adhesive. In another version, the adhesive bonding the liner and the top sheet may be a dry adhesive that may totally remain on the back of the top sheet upon separation of the top sheet and the liner, or may split between the top sheet and the liner, thereby remaining partially on the top sheet.
Alternatively, a method is known in which a calling card sheet, which initially was coated on the reverse side with a silicone layer, is fastened onto a carrier material with an adhesive. The calling card sheet is cut-punched and, after having been printed, the individual calling cards can be drawn-off from the carrier material. Due to the silicone layer, the adhesive remaining on the reverse side of the calling card can be avoided. These calling cards, however, have an altered smooth reverse side, which is undesirable. In addition, such a reverse side has the disadvantage that its writeability is inferior. A further disadvantage is that a card of this second class of card sheet products is easily bent when it is drawn off from the adhesive carrier. Examples of the second class of card sheet products and dry peel laminates are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,772 (Cross, commonly assigned herewith), and PCT Publication Nos. WO 00/16978 and WO 00/46316 (both of Avery Dennison Corporation).